Archives for May 2022

Hi Babe,
A great night sleep, the nights have been deliciously cool, perfect sleeping weather with the windows open! I was still in bed reading when James came by, we chatted, then he took my little gas tank and got it filled up so I would be able to finish mowing the lawn. He also measured out the part of the driveway that needs some shellrock so no one will get stuck in it again, not sure how long it’s going to take to get that approved and done. Everything moves at a glacial pace here, typical bureaucracy. He had asked me about finding the valves that turn off the water at several points around the camp, particularly the paddocks, so I spent the day with my little trowel, digging up valves which were often buried in a foot of sand. I think I managed to find them all, though it took me several hours. Then I sat down at my computer to make a map of which valves control which spigots. I thought I had it finished, then later realized I had screwed it up because I duplicated something, so I need to do it again in the morning. Meanwhile, because I couldn’t get hay yesterday, I let the horses out right after I gave them their feed this morning so that they could graze (and save half a bale of hay!), and they wandered all over the place. By mid-day they were standing in the middle of Barn 2, and Flash even hung out in a stall for awhile! Later I saw them in one of the paddocks munching away. They didn’t go too far, and by dinner time, they came as soon as I called them over, got them fed and back in their paddock. Spent some time inputting new contacts, a lot of folks texted or messaged me with their information. It certainly will be a much shorter contact list than I had before! At least I’m paring it down to folks I really know, though I had a lot of useful notes on some of them. I’ll survive! Anyway, I’ve now confirmed that the contacts in my Google account are the same as my contacts on the phone that I’ve been putting it in. If only I knew that was how it worked before, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble! Well, what’s done is done, nothing more to be said. Settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower (which I really need after playing in the sand all day!) and bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Kind of a roller coaster day today! Oddly cool this morning, which was a nice bit of relief from the weather, and after my usual chores and breakfast, I got on the phone to once again try to resolve my phone issues. Unfortunately, the one closest to the problem, Google, has absolutely NO way to actually contact a live person! It’s all through forums. They don’t even have a chat room that works! Ridiculous. Wasted two hours on the phone with Samsung. So now I’m stuck. I finally decided the best thing to do was to announce it on Facebook and have people send me their numbers, but this will never get back the hundreds of contacts I’ve made over the years, some with some VIP’s as you well know. Oh, well, most of that chapter of my life is over anyway, so I guess I can be positive and just say it’s a fresh start. I’ve been getting a lot of response from my post, so hopefully I won’t miss anyone that’s relevant in my life at the moment. After several hours working on that problem, I decided I needed to do some yard work. The septic tank area behind me has grown a lot of grass, and I’ve put the horses on it the last couple of days, but they’ve been leaving behind all of the weeds, daisies and other flowers, and since some are about to go to seed, I figured I better do something before it gets exponentially worse. There’s a mower in the shed, and it had gas, so I got that out and miraculously it started on the first pull! I can’t remember the last time I used a push mower, though. I mean, I remember I was about nine or ten when I learned how to run the John Deere riding mower at the cottage, and before that, the mower was a non-motorized push rotary type! And this one isn’t even self-propelled, so I really got my exercise today! Unfortunately, I ran out of gas just as I was starting the little bit of yard in front of my trailer, so I’ve had to ask James about getting gas for it. I was impressively reminded that one of the things I love about moving to a new trailhead every couple of weeks is that I don’t have to do yard work! Well, that changed today! I managed to get that done, then I confirmed that the Goodyear in town had a new tire for the small horse trailer, and decided to go get that done. I was expecting a package today, but once it was clear it wasn’t coming today, I headed into town. I went by the hardware store first because I wanted to pick up some hay, but they were out of coastal! Not even sure when they’re going to get it again, maybe later in the week. I’m down to 2 1/2 bales, but I figure if I just leave the horses on the grass during the day, I should be able to stretch that out. So that was disappointing. Then I got to the Goodyear, and they were so fast changing my tire out, but then it was pointed out to me that another one of the tires was looking bad (not surprising, it had been manufactured in 2010, so I guess it’s fair to say I got my use out of it), but that was an added expense I hadn’t figured on. Well, I needed it, the trailer was really shaking bad, and it was much better on the way home. The other two tires looked pretty good, so hopefully they will last awhile, even though the trailer won’t get too much use, except as a hay storage box once I get it back to Jeff’s. But I’ve decided to do as much exploring locally as I can, just for a change of pace and to keep me in shape, so I’ll get some use out of it, at least. I just need new trails to go on! Finally settled down for the evening, and before you know it, it’s time for shower and bed. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Babe,
Another rather ordinary day, I’m afraid. Did a little housework, gave Lola a bath and sprayed down her bed area, as it seems she’s got fleas, so I may have to bomb the trailer one of these fine days. I spent three hours on the computer working on the intersections and post markings, then finally sent it off to James for his review. I also struggled to try to download my contacts from my supposed backup, as they haven’t appeared on my phone yet, and I’m starting to panic that I’ve lost them all, which would be an incredibly inconvenient and frustrating loss! Verizon couldn’t help me, they told me to talk to Google. Google couldn’t help me, they told me to talk to Samusung. Samsung’s website is so pathetic, I couldn’t even get a chat box started! Not looking too good, but I’ll keep at it. Let the horses graze out on the septic tank area, lots of tall grass and weeds, it really needs mowing but I figured I’d see how much they could clear it before I would try to start the little lawnmower out here. Evidently the mowers can’t get in to do it, though that may be because of the way I parked the little horse trailer. I’m thinking of taking Flash over to Allapattah tomorrow, so I can leave the trailer in a different spot, but I’m not sure they can get in with their big mowers no matter where I park, as there’s a short fence with limited openings around it. Read and watched some TV, and sort of planned a route tomorrow, but other than that, a pretty mundane day. Now day is done, and it’s shower and bedtime now! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
A good night sleep, my usual morning routine, then I settled down to do a few odd jobs that needed doing. I finished the job I started the other day, by using that canned expansion foam that hardens around the drain under the shower, hopefully that will finally be the last place for bugs to get in that I’ve managed to plug up. I put all of that back together again. I fixed a paddle fan, I had notice one seemed to be running not quite smoothly, and discovered that one of the screws that connects it to the blade was gone, so I jury-rigged it with a drywall screw anchor since I didn’t have an actual screw the right size and it worked just fine. I picked up a few palm fronds, did my rounds a couple of time since a few new campers came in, and then, I decided I had to tackle my phone problem once and for all. I’ve been getting all kinds of errors, and it’s so packed with stuff that my memory is so limited that nothing is working properly. I was convinced I had to reboot it all the way back to a factory reset, but wanted to make sure everything was saved beforehand, so I called Verizon and the guy walked me through what was supposed to happen. Unfortunately, I was under the mistaken impression that since everything was supposedly backed up, everything would come back once it was rebooted. Boy, was I misled on THAT one! It didn’t seem to keep ANY of my settings, so I ended up spending a good part of the day trying to get my phone back to where it was, though hopefully with all of the problems solved. My texts weren’t working right, I was getting notifications but then I couldn’t get the rest of it to open, Whenever I turned the phone on I was getting several errors, and lately, it’s weirdly been giving me the wrong date and time! I’ve looked at it a bunch of times and it’s telling me that it’s August of 2002! Crazy! Anyway, so far it seems to be working better, but I’m still adding my lost apps, so I don’t know how much room I’ll have in the end, though I really don’t have THAT many apps, not compared to a lot of people I know! Fingers crossed I get it all back in the end. Meanwhile, other than that, I had a relatively relaxing day and evening, though I watched a very violent “chick flick,” not my favorite. I don’t really get why Hollywood thinks that true feminine equality means that women behave just as poorly and stupidly and violently as men, cursing and screwing and bloodletting as crudely as you can imagine. What can I say, I liked it better when movies showed the better side of us, not the worst possible side of us. But I digress! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Another good night sleep, chores, rounds, breakfast, getting to be quite the routine! My phone died early and often today, so I finally shut it off and put it wholly on charge for a bit, which finally got it working again. Dang cord I bought at Verizon a few weeks ago is hardly working already! Glad I picked up a couple of cheap ones on clearance at Publix, they’re working better! Anyway, finally was able to use the phone, confirmed that both the light bulb I needed for the stove and my Balance feed was in, so mid-afternoon I headed into town, just as James was saying he wanted to come by. I suggested someplace cool, and the timing was perfect, I was able to pick up what I needed at Ace and Tractor Supply before meeting him at JR’s Saloon, a nice little pool hall tucked away next to a gas station. We had a few beers and a lot of laughs. I also stopped at NAPA because my truck hasn’t been starting very well, I suspect the fuel filter needs changing, though it still has 4,000 or 5,000 miles before it’s supposed to need changing. I also put a little oil in it, it was a little low (still on the stick!), and that seemed to help. They quoted me the ridiculous price of $99! For a simple fuel filter! Crazy! Then one of the guys told him to look it up under another account and said it was $58 something, over $60 with tax. I was sure I didn’t pay anywhere near that much last time I bought it, so I passed, figuring I could order it again online. Sure enough, when I looked it up this evening, I confirmed my last purchase was less than $39, so guess where I’m going to buy it? Anyway, I managed to start the truck each time, but at the Tractor Supply when it first happened, it gave me fits. Whatever, it was better when it cooled down. So James and I had a few beers at the saloon, then I stopped at the IGA for a few groceries, and got back to camp just after 6:00, did my rounds again, fed the horses, had dinner, and settled down for the night. Once again, time for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
A good night sleep, though I went to bed later than I expected, but woke up early and read for awhile. Got my chores and breakfast done, then went about doing some repairs on the trailer, trying to seal up whatever leaks I might have. I put some duct tape over the top “drain” holes in the window in a way that will shunt the water away, and it that works to keep the rain out, I’ll do some king of permanent seal over them. I was looking at one of the camper’s trailers here, and it looked like she actually had some kind of plug over it, shaped like the plug over the brake adjustment hole on the trailer, so maybe that’s what I’m supposed to have. Never noticed them before. Then I went up on the roof and put a liberal layer of lap sealant around where I think the rain might be coming in from the roof, and a few other areas while I was at it, hope that does the trick! I tried to seal the drain under the shower with that poofy insulating foam, but I couldn’t get the trigger to work, even though I cleaned it out pretty good. Just not enough pressure left in it. That’s the trouble with those things, if you only have one little job, you end up wasting the whole rest of the can because you can’t get it out. Pity they don’t have smaller cans! So I didn’t get that done, figure I’ll run into town tomorrow and pick up a few things, including more of that foam. I’m getting a little low on some essentials, so it will be worth the trip, though I was hoping my feed would be in. I’ll call Tractor Supply in the morning to see when they’re truck comes in. While I was working on the window, I managed to stab myself pretty good with my sharp scissors, so now my palm is all swollen up, and it’s expanding down my wrist a bit. I cleaned it out good, and it looks like it will seal up nicely, just a little worried about the swelling. Reminds me of that time that dog nipped your finger, and we didn’t clean it out right away, and it ended up putting you in the hospital! So much for the idea that a dog’s saliva is antiseptic! We learned that lesson the hard way, didn’t we! So I’m keeping a close eye on it. Settled down and waited for the rain in the afternoon, and even though there was some thunder and clouds, it managed to slip around us, so I wasn’t able to test my repairs, darn it! I did put the horses out on the grass over the septic tank for awhile, though, it’s the only long grass left in here, so I figured I would let them chomp down on it. It helped, but I need to put them back on it again tomorrow, or else see if I can crank up the little hand mower that’s in the shed. Steve said it worked, and it’s starting to look a little overgrown around my trailer, so I’m going to have to do something! Relaxed the rest of the day, watched an action movie this evening, now it’s time for you know what! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, been getting a lot of them lately! Did chores and breakfast, then spent some time cleaning out a couple of paddock, using a tarp to drag the windrow over to what I’m calling the “burn” pile, hoping that people will come fetch stuff out of it for their campfires, which a few people have been doing, so it’s been going down, though I added some more to it today. Did a little incidental housekeeping, not my intention but it happened anyway. One of the burners on my stove quit working awhile back, finally took the lid off and found a loose wire, snapped that back in, then cleaned it all out. Then it began to rain like crazy, looks like it’s going to be like this all week, and I found my bedroom window leaking again. This is the one I put the new seal on last year, and resealed last week, so either I have a serious problem with the seal, or it’s coming from somewhere else. There are two “drain holes” on the top and bottom of the window frame, I’m not sure why they have some on top, I’m thinking of putting some duct tape over the top ones to see if that’s where the leak is coming from, if not, I’ll have to think about taking the window out and sealing it again, apparently I must have done something wrong last time, though I don’t know what. I also found a puddle coming out by the bathroom door, and had to take out the vent cover on the cold air return as well as under the shower to try and find it. Haven’t quite pinpointed it, but I think I found out where my little ant problem is coming from. I’ve put foam insulation around all of the pipes in this trailer except the drain under the shower, which I didn’t think I could reach, but with the duct cover off the shower, I should be able to, so that’s a chore for tomorrow. I could hear water dripping, but still can’t figure out exactly where it’s coming from, but I suspect it may be around the sunroof over the shower, maybe along that edge, since that would put it just about where the wall joint is, and that seems to be where it’s coming from. So tomorrow I’ll be on the roof with some lap sealant doing that whole section again. Hopefully, those two fixes will make me watertight again. Nothing worse than a leaky trailer! Mostly read and watched TV again today other than that. Time for shower and bed again! Good night, hon! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a pretty quiet day today, just did my chores and rounds in the morning, got a toilet in the women’s bathroom working, cleaned up some palm fronds in one of the corrals, then some serious rain came in in the afternoon, which we still need really badly. It was a lovely long hard rain, too, so everything got a good soaking. Really didn’t do much of anything else today except read, watch TV and play computer games. Mundane, boring, I need to get busy doing something! I let James know that I was thinking about staying through the summer, but that I only would if I could get the tools I need to work on the trails (i.e. a UTV), otherwise I’d be heading out. I’d really like to stay, but not if I’m idle all summer, I have too much life left in me to sit around like today for months. If I can be useful, I’ll stay, otherwise I’ll get back to traveling. He’s going to talk with Land Management, but he’s not very hopeful. We’ll see. Anyway, heading off to shower and bed shortly. Good night, babe! Love you!